Light hanger - warping!

[OodleyBoodely]

I made this light hanger for my 37g out of oak and two plant hangers. I thought with the oak that warping would not be an issue... Guess that shows what I know...very little in the constructing/diying...but I like to try making what I can dispite my ignorance!

I used 1/2x3/4" (actual measure) red oak and painted it black. After assembling and putting it on the tank (with zipties) it started warping! It's warping about midway up on the left upright. It's not the corners racking, it' the wood bending. I went ahead and put the light fixture on it today, regardless of the warp to see how it looks, and sure enough, the warp is throwing the fixture almost an inch over the side of the tank. I'm pretty bummed out by this setback.

Any way, I'm still happy with the design and plan to rebuild with staighter, stronger wood. I would really appreciate some tips on what kind of wood to use for this, or, a simple fix for the warped board? I only have a few simple hand tools so unless a fix is as simple as screwing another board to the warped one to straighten it...would that work?...then it would probably be easier for me to just rebuild it. Would regular pine 2x2 resist warping after being painted, or is there a better alternative? 1" round poles? Any help appreciated!

This pics show the light hanger in place with the light fixture just hanging from strings (temporary) to see how it would hang...off to the side in this case. The warp in the leftside board doesn't show in this pic, but it is very apparent irl. The second pic is just to show I'm not planning to use a Perfecto one NO flourescent over my reef, lol! That is a track bar in there and it will hold 4 Par 38 leds from Nanotuners. If I can get this light hanger straightened up!

[glazer]

Sorry dood... no matter what wood you use with that design they'll never stay straight.

You're going to have to seriously beef up the wood bits... 2x2 would be much better but it's still going to bow/warp/bend. Do you have to have the uprights sooo tall? I know it's nice to raise your light up completely out of the way for maintenance but still. Cutting down the height of them will help immensely.

You could go with conduit... you probably don't have a bender but talk nice to somebody at the hardware store and they might just do it for you. OH OH, wait... you could do like I did once. It wasn't conduit but it was steel rod. I didn't have a bender at the time so I went over to the section where they were, took one of the shelf and bent my two pieces of rod right there in the store. Put bender back on hook and walked up front and paid for them. The cashier NEVER said a word... I'm sure she figured they sold bent steel rod. Was that wrong of me?....lol


Steve

[OodleyBoodely]

Hi, Steve!
LOL, about you borrowing the bender!

This light hanger and the fixture are very light weight. The fixture once I get the cans and lamps installed will only weight around 2-3 lbs. total, so, I don't see why this shouldn't be able to support it. The hanger itself is actually very stable and strong...just that one board started warping. I do need the height because once the lamps/cans are installed, the fixture will be aprox. 15" deep and I'll need enough room to push it up out of the way. The current hanger is 7'5" but, I could go to 7' or just under.

I'd like to stay with wood on this. I have looked into using steel but, I don't have the tools to work it and just don't feel comfortable going that route.

Thanks for the ideas. BTW, dood doesn't quite fit, lol! I'm one of those wierd reefer women that likes playing with power tools, ha!

[glazer]

DOH! sorry um, doodette....

Wierd reefer women that like to play with power tools... (sigh) Always have a had a soft spot for them types.

Okay, your problem... (besides being argumentive ) is that wood never stops "breathing". It's going to expand and contract and no matter what coating you put on it will stop that. It may slow the process or help minimize the severity of the movement. I know you say the lights not heavy, what's a couple of pounds right? It's a constant applied force on those uprights. Unless you have something on the other side to equal that force it's gonna want to bow the wood. I dunno, think of rigging on a sailboat mast. The wood you buy at the big box stores is seldom dried properly. There is a desired moisture content to the wood before you do any fabrication with it. I have checked the wood at places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc. By checked I mean I have a moisture meter. This stuff is "wet"! Trust me... you bring it home, make your whatevers with it and it dries out further, equalizes to your home environment and it's gonna look like a dogs hind leg when it's done.

Truly, don't be afraid of the metal aspect... get two pieces of conduit, go over to the tool aisle, bend the ends at a 90. While your there buy a hacksaw if you don't have one.
If you like playing with power tools I will assume you MUST have a drill. Drill a hole throught the conduit, put in an eye bolt and yer done. Oh, you need to get some conduit holders to mount the pipe to the back of the stand.

IF, it's got to be wood.... and be the design you are using. Get some larger stock, preferably from a lumber yard. Probably need to run a couple of cross braces instead of just the one at the top too. Do you have clamps? You could take two 1x2s and lay them together with the rings of the end grain facing opposite directions.. by lay them together I mean glue them together. That would be much more stable than a single piece....

Alright... I could just go on.... and on....

Enough for now...lol


Steve

[OodleyBoodely]

Thanks for the education, Steve! That's really interesting about the wood being so wet...do your really carry a moisture meter around with you? LOL! OK, I'm sure you have your reasons! OK, to be fair, I have been known to pull my 30' Stanley tape measure out of my handbag from time to time...or the odd pvc fittings. I think I will look into the metal conduit pipe, at least check pricing before I try to fix this one. I might even be able to use the plant hangers from my wood and just bolt them to staight pipe...no bending required...just need to drill some holes (and yes I have a drill- a Dewalt 100). Hmmm. Got me thinking again of more possibilities! Thanks again!

[username in use]

Why not hang it directly from the ceiling. It will look a lot cleaner than having those tall black rods going up the wall. You can raise it all the way up and never have to worry about it warping. If the ceiling beams arent centered over the tank, just make up a board that is as long as or longer than the tank and bolt that to the ceiling (you can paint it black or white) and then mount your lights to the board right where you want them. All problems solved and it will look a lot nicer.

[OodleyBoodely]

Thanks, Joshua, but hanging from the cieling is not an option.

[necessary evil]

Sounds like you need the assistance of a bending unit

[OodleyBoodely]

I'm working on the cheap on this so anything that requires my buying tools is probably out. It would be nice to have the pipe bent to shape, but, I don't mind the look of what I had and I think I can re-create it using metal pipe. Just waiting until I can get back into town to get the pipe. Does anyone know if Lowes or HomeDepot will cut pipe to size instore?

[glazer]

Does anyone know if Lowes or HomeDepot will cut pipe to size instore?

I think it depends on which pipe you go with.... as well as the people in the store. By that, I find the employees of small town big box stores will normally go above and beyond as opposed to the majority of the flunkies working in large urban stores. (um, like here in Chitown)

As a rule they will normally have services available to cut and even thread rigid steel pipe, like the stuff you would use to run a gas line for instance (black pipe). It depends on what you are calling "pipe" though. If you are referring to conduit as pipe then my guess it would be more along the lines of them just doing you a favor. Not unheard of.

If you go the conduit route... don't go undersized with it. There is usually two kinds of conduit they will carry. Galvanized rigid conduit (GRC) and electrical metallic tubing (EMT), the GRC being a thicker walled tube. Normally on GRC all connections are made using threaded connectors, you thread the "pipe" ends. The EMT is thin walled tubing and normally what they have mountains of.
When you go shopping you'll see the different sizes the conduit comes in... If you go with GRC you get by with a "skinny" size... EMT, I would go larger on, like 1". Half-inch, in the length you need might get you back to square one and bow/bend on you a bit.


Steve


(oh, and by the way... no, I don't always walk around with a moisture meter on me. Just on those trips where I'm trying to get wood. Did that sound funny?)

[hebygb]

wood will warp. especially in close proximity of our tanks. Even a 4 x 4 will warp. I know you dont have water in your tank yet, but just humidity will warp wood. Just to give you an idea of cost Current sells a pendant hanger Two black alluminum square rods that have an internal cable. Allows you to raise and lower the fisture easily. I think mine cost $80.

[OodleyBoodely]

Steve, thankyou! I didn't know the differnces in pipe, so, appreciate the lesson! My local hardware is willing to cut the pipe to size for me, but, I don't know which type of pipe they carry except it is 3/4".

hebygb, lol! I'm finding out the hard way about these diy projects. I wanted to keep my costs down! I saw those and dismissed them as too expensive...now, after building, and soon to be re-building, it would have been cheaper to buy! LOL!